Pages

Tuesday, January 1, 2013

Pink & White Layered Sprinkle Cake with Macarons

Happy 2013 everyone!!! It's a brand new year, can you believe it? It felt like 2012 went by so ridiculously fast. To start the new year I made a cake for my brother and sister-in-law to celebrate their soon to be born baby (we're still waiting impatiently for her to show up!). Since we know it's going to be a girl I decided to go crazy with the pink and the sprinkles. You can't go wrong with lots and lots of sprinkles.

I made my usual trusty yellow cake for the four cake layers, adding a tiny bit of strawberry flavouring and pink food colouring to half the cake batter. I've done ombre layered cakes before, and checkerboard cakes, but I thought this time I would try making it pink and white striped. It's easier and it still has a striking appearance.

For the icing I made a Swiss meringue buttercream, flavoured with strawberry jam and mixed with a ton of rainbow sprinkles to make it a funfetti buttercream. The sprinkles add such a pretty colour to the icing as well as a bit of texture.

I made some plain macarons as a cute cake topper, filled with the same buttercream that I used for the whole cake. On my first attempt I made some teal-coloured macarons but I completely stuffed them up (even after all the practice I've had I can still mess up my macarons all the time). And of course, lots of sprinkles! MOAR SPRINKLES! Happy New Year!

Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F) and grease whatever 18cm (7 inch) round cake tins you have (I only had two so I had to bake it in two rounds, it also works fine with just one tin). You can also use 20cm (8 inch) pans but the layers will be thinner. Line the base of tins with baking paper and grease paper and dust tins with flour. Combine flour, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl and set aside. Mix milk and vanilla together in a measuring jug.

Using an electric mixer on low speed, beat sugar and butter in a large bowl until blended. Increase speed to high and beat for 2 mins or until pale and creamy. Reduce speed to medium low, add eggs 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Alternately add flour mix and milk mixture, beginning and ending with flour mixture (I did it by adding 1/4 of of the dry mixture followed by 1/3 of the wet mixture at a time). Beat until smooth, occasionaly scraping bowl with a spatula. Divide mixture evenly into 2 medium bowls (I did this by weighing the batter, it ended up being about 700g per bowl for me). Gently fold pink colouring and (optionally) strawberry essence into one bowl. Pour HALF of each bowl of batter into the prepared tins (so you end up with two pink layers and two white layers) bake each layer for about 15-20 minutes or until a skewer into the centre comes out clean and the outside is golden. Cool in tin for 5 mins and then turn out onto wire racks to cool completely. Wrap in clingfilm and chill in the fridge for at least 1 hour or overnight. If your cake layers are slightly domed in the middle you may need to slice a little bit off the top of them to make sure they are flat

For the strawberry funfetti buttercream:

(If you're new to making Swiss meringue buttercream, these wonderfultutorials from two of my favourite bloggers will help)

To prepare the buttercream, whisk together egg whites and sugar in a large heatproof bowl. Clip a candy thermometer to side of bowl. Set bowl over a pan of simmering water, and whisk until mixture reaches 70°C (160°F) and sugar has dissolved, about 5 minutes.

With a mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat egg white mixture on high speed until cooled and thick, about 5 minutes. Reduce speed to medium, and add butter, 1 tablespoon at a time, beating until incorporated after each addition. Add strawberry jam and whip until smooth and thick. If the mixture is runny or splits, don't worry just keep on whipping and it will eventually come together. Buttercream can be refrigerated in an airtight container for up to 3 days; bring to room temperature before using, and beat on low speed until smooth. Stir in sprinkles. Sandwich alternating pink and white layers with about 1/2cm layer of buttercream, then crumb coat the outside of the cake. Cover cake with another layer of icing and smooth with an offset spatula (or go for the easier uneven icing technique if you can't be bothered smoothing it). Make sure to leave at least a cup of buttercream behind if you are filling the macarons with it. To make the macarons, follow the instructions for these plain macarons, but do not add food colouring and pipe simple 3-4cm circles. Top with more rainbow/funfetti sprinkles before baking. Fill baked and cooled macaron shell with the remaining buttercream. Top cake with macarons and refrigerate overnight. Remove from the fridge at least 30 mins before serving.

I love this cake. And how exciting, waiting for a new baby :) I am happy 2013 is here and I hope it will bring loads of great things. PS: can you add real strawberries to the swiss meringue buttercream, or would it be too much liquid?

You can certainly add puréed strawberries instead of jam but I find jam is a bit of a cheat's way of doing it with a less diluted flavour. I was just too lazy to go buy some fresh strawberries that day!

Happy 2013 Steph! And again, you've welcomed the new year with style. Hopefully your niece comes along soon. I remember I got so impatient with all 4 of my nephews to be born. Haha. Love the funfetti theme and layers of the cake. It's the perfect way to celebrate the new year and playing the waiting game with your niece to enter this world xx

Happy New Year to you, Steph! The cake looks utterly gorgeous, I'm sure its a beautiful welcome for the cute baby girl! Love, love your macaron, and since I discovered your recipe, there is no turning back! So thanks a lot (eternally) for it, hope this year is good to you and loved ones:-)

How amazing! I love all the vibrant colors and the fun details! I hope the parents-to-be save a little slice to have on their daughter's actual birth-day. I wish I had done that when my daughter was born. Maybe for the next one!

Hi Steph, did you see that the Coveteur used a picture of this cake on their instagram? They are not giving you any credit (as far as I can see) and I was wondering if they asked your permission to use the picture...If they did... congrats for making it on there, if not, go kick their bums (I hate when people don't give credit to those who deserve it).

I'll email you a screenshot ... by the way the sprinkles sit on the macaron I am absolutely certain it is yours, even though they cut of the bottom bit of the picture. You should email them and complain, really not cool of them.

Love this cake - looks amazing!!!! Perfect for a new bub. Just wondering if you could get away with using plain buttercream icing instead of the swiss meringue buttercream.. thinking of doing something similar for my friends hen's party but a load of the girls coming are pregnant and not sure they'd be cool with having raw egg in the icing...

I'm going to be creating this cake for a school project. With the cake, does it HAVE to be refrigerated over night because I will be making the cake one day and then the next icing it all and serving it that day. Please reply, thankyou :)

Yes I would definitely recommend refrigerating the cake in an air tight container if you are baking it a day ahead. It keeps the cake fresher and makes it easier to trim. If you're not able to do that you will just have to store it in an airtight container at room temperature.

Sure you can! Though just warning you now the blueberry jam will more likely turn the icing purple rather than blue. You add the sprinkles before icing the cake, I've added clarification to the recipe :)

Hi Steph, I've been checking out your blog for recipes to make for a cake stall supporting the Aus Red Cross (the event's call Big Cake Bake). I'm interested in your checkerboard cake and was wondering if this cake can withstand being dissected (or cut up) and stacked. And another question, about the macarons, when do you top them with the sprinkles? Before or after drying? Thanks a bunch and keep up your awesome work!

The cake batter used in this recipe is the same as the one I use for the checkerboard cake so yes it should be fine. I place the springles on before drying, after you have tapped the baking sheets on the counter to remove any air bubbles. Hope that helps!

Thanks for the recipe! I made this the other day for a friend's birthday (but used regular buttercream made from fresh strawberries) and it came out well albeit drier than expected, possibly because I may have over-mixed the batter.

When you baked this cake, did you bake two layers at a time on the same rack?

If the cake was on the dry side then you may have over baked it, try taking it out a bit earlier - as soon as the skewer comes out clean from the centre. I baked each layer one at a time for this particular cake.

Comments are moderated and will be published ASAP. If you are viewing this on your phone, you might have to click the Preview button before posting your comment for it to work. People who comment make my day! ♥

An email to me for permission before reusing my images/recipes on your blog or website will be greatly appreciated, and you must must must credit me with a link back to the original post(that doesn't mean the front page) if you reuse any of my content. My photos and recipes CANNOT be used for commercial purposes without my written consent. DO NOT POST MY PHOTOS ON INSTAGRAM. There are no means to sufficiently credit me and I will report any photos posted on instagram as copyright infringement.